Paul Carr (13/08/1961), an English composer. He was born in Cornwall, England in 1961 to Anglo-Australian nationality and has been writing music since the age of 15. From 1984 – 1998 his main career was in opera stage management and he has worked with some of the world's leading companies including English National Opera, The Australian Opera, The New Israeli Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington Opera, as well as various free-lance contracts including the annual Raymond Gubbay Opera at The Royal Albert Hall. In 2004 he retired from stage management, and in April of that year moved to Mallorca to concentrate more fully on composition as well as developing his interest in abstract painting. He has exhibited work in three exhibitions in Mallorca, and in April 2007 Galleria Ca'n Pinos in Palma presented his first solo show.
Paul has written scores for several British films including 'Janice Beard 4wpm', 'Being Considered', and 'Lady Audley's Secret'. TV work includes the popular Children's series 'Girls in Love' for Granada.
Paul's concert work is varied, and over the past few years performances include a Viola Concerto, a Piano Concerto, a Sonatina for Flute & Piano, a 2nd Flute Concerto, Chasing Aunt Sally (a concert overture premiered by the Worthing Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Gibbons), a wind quintet Diverting Sundays (premiered at the 2003 Brighton Festival by The Galliard Ensemble), and Jazz Cardigans (a suite of 5 guitar pieces premiered by Craig Ogden at the 2006 Brighton Festival).
Most recent works include A Very English Music for string orchestra, an Oboe Concerto (for Nicholas Daniel), a Bassoon Concerto, a Piano Quartet, a Sinfonietta for Orchestra, Concertos for Trombone, and for Trumpet, and three versions of the same work: Air for Strings, Air for Orchestra, and Viola Air. His Requiem For An Angel, for 2 soloists, choir & orchestra, was premiered in June 2006 in Warminster and received its 2nd performance in Brighton in November 2007 given by the East Sussex Bach Choir and the Sussex Symphony Orchestra.

The dedicatee, the composers mother, Una Hale (18/11/1922 – 04/03/2005) was an Australian operatic soprano, mainly known in her native country and in the United Kingdom. Born in Adelaide, Hale came to Britain in 1946 to study at the Royal College of Music. She appeared with the Carl Rosa Opera Company from 1949 to 1954, playing many leading roles, such as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata Micaela Carmen and Marguerite in Gounod's Faust.
In 1954 Hale was engaged as a principal soprano at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, where she sang most of the major lyric soprano roles. She was particularly noted for her portrayals of Ellen Orford in Britten's Peter Grimes, Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, The Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and Liu in Puccini's Turandot. In 1956 she portrayed Naomi in the world première of Lennox Berkeley's opera, Ruth. The production was mounted by the English Opera Group with Anna Pollak singing the title role and Peter Pears portraying Boaz.
In 1962, Hale sang the title role in the Australian première of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. During that same season she also portrayed Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff. In 1963-64 she sang Ellen Orford and Tosca with the Sadler's Wells Opera Company, and Tosca and The Marshallin in Romania with the Romanian National Opera. In 1960 she married Martin Carr, at that time Technical Director of the Royal Ballet - subsequently a theatre consultant - and retired from the stage in 1965 after the birth of her second child. She spent the rest of her life in Bath, England.